


Bringing Beer

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Cogenitor, Episode Tag, F/M, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 15:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1433488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hoshi tries to cheer Trip up after news of the Cogenitor dying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bringing Beer

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired, sort of, by a thing that Sokorra wrote and me thinking about the end of this episode and how grumpy Trip likely would have been. So I wrote "a little thing". This is not so little now.

She just stood in the doorway, a year or so earlier she would have felt awkward coming to a senior officer like this, but they were friends, and he’d spent the night with her after the transporter trouble. She could only return the favour, and she was sure he needed it now. So she held a couple of beers and smiled, waiting on him opening the door. He’d had a terrible few days, and she’d ended up too busy to actually offer him much support. Then she’d taken the call about the cogenitor and she knew he was going to feel guilty about what had happened.

His face was every bit as miserable as she’d expected, so she just held up the beers and smiled widely. There wasn’t really a kind way to say hello, so instead she offered him the bottles."I heard what happened with the cogenitor."

"Hoshi, I don't wanna talk about it." He said even as he stepped back, and it was obvious that while he might not want to talk about the situation he wanted some company.

So she stepped past him and stopped by his desk, giving him a chance to move back into the room, and staying close enough to the door that she could move if it was what he wanted in the end. "Well we can sit here and not talk then."

"Why are you here?" He asked, sitting on the edge of his bunk and frowning in her general direction. Not exactly at her, but not away from her either.

"I thought maybe you needed a friend. If you want me to leave...?" She nodded to the door, more than happy to leave if he didn’t want her here after all. She even took a few steps in that direction before he jumped up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm being an asshole." He shrugged a little in an apology, and all Hoshi could do initially was reach up and stroke his cheek gently, then reached back behind her to where he’d put the beer bottles down and smiled.

Trip motioned to the bed, and she sat on the bunk as she normally did when they ended up watching a movie, this was hardly the first time this had happened. He turned the screen so it was facing them. It might be a tiny screen, but it was enough for them to see what was going on. "I understand why you’re in a bad mood. You've had a shitty couple of days.” She said sympathetically. There was no point trying to soften that. It had been a bad few days, particularly for Trip, so she was willing to give him a pass for the moment. “Look I'm here if you want to talk. Or if you just want someone to sit and watch a movie with."

"You have been a much better friend than I deserve." He smiled as he slipped onto the bunk next to her, taking one of the bottles and opening it, taking a swig then offering it to her.

She took the bottle without asking and took a swig herself then shook her head. "I don't think that's true. You just need things to remind you that you're not always such a bad guy." He really wasn’t a bad guy. He could be short-sighted, and prejudiced, but he wasn’t a bad guy. She’d keep trying to make that point to him.

He looked at her seriously then slowly a small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Thanks."

With that out of the way she motioned at the screen the looked to him seriously. "Now, what movie are we watching?" She asked with the gravest of tones she could manage, then ended up laughing as it dawned on Trip what she was actually saying.

"You pick." He motioned, and she leant over him to the panel by the bed that was connected through to the screen. She could almost hear his groan when she picked one of the more feminine ‘chick flick’ type movies. She was completely unsurprised at the gentle grumbles he had as she sat back against him as the movie began to play. At some point during the film they ended up sat with his arm around her and her head on his shoulder, but it felt comfortable and familiar, and it had clearly taken his mind off being grumpy.

Instead of immediately trying to break apart they both sat there for a minute, watching the credits roll before Trip spoke, a chuckle in his voice as he did. "That was the cutest thing I've ever watched."

"I didn't hear you complaining!" She poked him in the side and sat up herself, reaching for the beer she’d largely forgotten about during the movie, maybe that was partly why she hadn’t heard him complaining. It was one of her personal favourites.

He just looked at her for a moment then grinned. "Of course not. I got to watch you enjoy yourself." She wondered for a minute how unusual that was, but then she remembered that for the longest time she’d avoided doing much with Trip, and that had seemed to continue on even long after the crush she’d had on him had faded.

"You know I used to have the biggest crush on you. Back when we first launched." She decided to admit to it, she was pretty sure he knew already, certainly the confident grin he shot her back gave that impression.

He kept grinning for a second then started biting the corner of his thumb like he always did then he was trying to be coy. It never really worked. "Used to? Not anymore?"

"Well, it's faded over the last couple years." She grinned at him and shook her head, not going to admit to any more than that. There wasn’t really any need to.

Trip kept his grin too, though a look of confusion joined the grin in one of the more amusing combinations of facial expression Hoshi had seen in a long time. "I always thought you were cute. You never seemed like you had a crush on me." He commented after a few seconds of thinking.

"I'm a girl, we know how to hide it." That was true, it was almost like every girl was taught how to hide it in elementary school, and they never lost the ability.

He looked down at the beer bottle in his hands and started worrying the label again. "I wish you hadn't. Things could have been very different."

"I'm not sure if that would have been a good thing." She admitted, and shook her head. “It could have been a disaster.”

"Would it have been a bad thing?" He asked, and the two of them just looked at each other for a moment while she tried to answer. As the silence dragged on she began to realise she didn’t have an answer. Would the ‘different’ have been a bad thing? She didn’t know. She was thinking it over when she felt Trip lift her chin then kiss her gently. She was already kissing back before she realised what was going on, and she pulled back and shook her head.

"Trip." She chastised after a second, opening a little more space between the two of them. While she didn’t have an answer for whether different would be a good or a bad thing, she also knew that trying to change things right now, when he was so emotionally charged with everything that had gone on the last few days. Anything now would be a mistake. She knew that much.

"Sorry." He mumbled and moved away even further, back to the friendly distance they’d had before they’d started talking. The last thing she wanted right now was for it to ruin their night, not when it didn’t need to.

So she patted his cheek gently and sat back against the wall. "Don't be. Let's put it down to bad timing and high emotions."

"Thanks for letting me off the hook." He muttered quietly, thankfully with a smile on his face this time, rather than the frown he’d worn earlier.

"How about you pick the next movie." She smiled and settled back next to him, glad that he wrapped his arm back around her again. She reached around him and took a swig of the bottle of beer they’d been sharing and laughed as he picked the worst comedy in the database. He needed a friend and she was more than happy to be here.


End file.
